It is a little known fact that some of the world’s greatest architects have turned their hands to forks, knives and spoons with small-scale blueprints for collections of contemporary cutlery. From Achille Castiglioni to Zaha Hadid, we showcase a slice of the sharply designed flatware on offer.

Some of the world's greatest architects have turned their hands to small-scale blueprints for collections of contemporary cutlery. From Achille Castiglioni to Zaha Hadid, we showcase a slice of the sharply designed flatware on offer.

A revived Paris destination for art de vivre created by traditional artisans to contemporary designs is one of our favourite boutiques of 2012. We talk to the owner and creative director of Compagnie Française de l'Orient et de la Chine.

The instantly recognizable rock sculptures of Arik Levy are shown alongside his lesser known work in a new exhibition at Paris' Passge de Retz gallery. In an exclusive interview, the artist explains why Nothing is Quite as it Seems.

In her latest exhibition of nature-inspired decorative arts, the multidisciplinary artist Joy de Rohan Chabot has once again mastered new techniques to create a forest of aluminium sculpted branches, frosted glass stalactites and more.

Architecture for Dogs is a new pawject curated by Kenya Hara, the creative director of Muji, which brings together 13 starchitects each briefed to design a structure for a specific breed of dog. We showcase the barkitecture on offer.

A new collaboration between Peugeot Design Lab and artisan French piano maker Pleyel has composed a baby grand with radical innovations in mechanical acoustics and sound quality that match its avant garde form. We take a tinkle.

A house in the Portuguese archipelago of Azores is named after a Leonardo da Vinci manuscript and is conceived around womb-like qualities for a structure that is a striking assemblage of curves and blocks.

The entirely bespoke McLaren X-1 commissioned by an enthusiastic collector was inspired by everything from the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright to black and white images of Audrey Hepburn for "timeless and classical elegance".

Uber-gallerists Thaddaeus Ropac and Larry Gagosian have both opened monumentally proportioned mega galleries on the outskirts of Paris with shows of new work by Anselm Kiefer. We take a tour of the museum-sized spaces.

Fifty years after her passing, the iconic style of Marilyn Monroe is as modern as ever and is celebrated in a new exhibition at the Museo Ferragamo in Florence. We take a tour and look deeper at her self-created image.

The avant garde creations of influential fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli are set to be reinvented as the house of Schiaparelli is revived by Diego Della Valle. Brand ambassador Farida Khelfa explains its importance.

Digital Crystal: Swarovski at the Design Museum, London, is the latest exhibition that showcases the crystal producer's intimate relationship with emerging and established design talent. Nadja Swarovski gives us a tour.

Cheska Vallois and her Paris gallery is renowned as one of the most important dealers of Art Deco furniture and objects and her booth at the Biennale des Antiquaires is one of the fair's most highly anticipated.

The autumn-winter collections are here and with them a whole new vocabulary of dressing. We select the investment pieces of the
catwalk, showcase the new architecture-inspired silhouette and edit fall’s fabulous coats, the key piece of the season - buy now!

The latest project by Spanish studio Fran Silvestre Arquitectos is a sleek angular house that bursts out of a rock face for dramatic juxtaposition of nature and architecture. But by cleverly filling the void between the rocky ground and with a top floor courtyard that faces the majestic mountain above, the architects claim to have integrated the structure into its environment. We slide open the large panels that conceal the windows of the home in Ayora, near Valencia, and take a virtual tour.

Before legendary fashion photographer Erwin Blumenfeld became just that, he pursued even more radical images using a mix of photomontage and drawing, as well as unusual finishes, that are testament to his work as an artist.

A spectacular façade of brass tubes was employed by Portuguese studio Pitagoras Arquitectos to create a shimmering golden façade on The International Centre for the Arts Jose de Guimarães in the northern Portugal city of Guimarães.

The latest work by Pritzker Prize winning architect Zaha Hadid is the Z-Boat, a sculpture-at-sea that will set sail in a limited edition armada of 12 commissioned by art dealer Kenny Schachter of Rove Gallery, London.

Across 23-acres at Longwood Gardens, Philadelphia, the British artist Bruce Munro has installed thousands of sparkling stems and glowing grass blades in a series of illuminated works that live up to names such as Forest of Light.

A new era has dawned at Christian Dior where new creative director Raf Simons has injected his signature modernity and sharpness into a house known for romanticism and femininity. The future of fashion?